


Reading Into Things

by longhairshortfuse



Series: One Shot Wonders [13]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-23
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-05 19:03:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4191390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/longhairshortfuse/pseuds/longhairshortfuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos accidentally (sort of) sees Cecil in a coffee shop. Cecil is typing something and Carlos can't help reading it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reading Into Things

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



Carlos stuffed his keys into his voluminous lab-coat pocket, checked he had his wallet and that there was some cash in it, yelled, ”See you later, don’t break anything!” and trotted out of the lab before any of his colleagues could stop him with science. The door whupped shut behind him, cutting off Rochelle’s retort.  
“Carlos? You _never_ take a lunch break!”  
Her head poked around the door and she grinned at the sight of Carlos speed-walking away. She called back through the lab, “Hey, the boss has gone to accidentally-on-purpose bump into that weird guy off the radio he’s been pretending he’s not in love with. Wanna take bets on what time he gets back?”  
Dave sniggered. “Aw it’s cute. Think he’ll actually ask the guy out?”  
Rochelle shook her head. "Dunno. He said he got pretty close to asking him out last time but got a sudden panic that maybe he read the guy wrong and he was just being friendly."

Carlos slowed down once he was out of sight and sound of the lab. He wiped his forehead on his sleeve and took the lab-coat off to cool down a little, continued his walk at a more moderate pace. By the time he arrived at the little café round the corner from the radio station building, Carlos was smiling. He pushed the door open, waited for his eyes to adjust to the dim interior and looked around.

The café was quiet in that space between late coffee and early lunch. Carlos scurried to the counter and ordered, took the numbered flag the cashier offered him and squeezed into the darkest corner to wait. He looked up every time the door opened, pulse racing for a minute then calming when it wasn’t the person he equally longed for and dreaded to see. Carlos stared into space and rehearsed dialogue in his head:

_”Oh hello Cecil, no I don’t usually come here but I was passing because of science and it was lunchtime, although time isn’t real so lunchtime is an abstract concept dictated subjectively by an individual’s perception of blood glucose and levels of ghrelin...”_

_”Hi Cecil, I didn’t know you came here, it is a nice coincidence to bump into you like this. Are you on your own? There’s a seat free here if you want to join me. You know there is a lot of science behind coincidences. Have you heard of something called observational selection bias? No? Oh it happens when…”_

_”Hello Cecil, would you like coffee? Uh, obviously you would because you are here in this coffee shop but what I mean, scientifically speaking, is would you like to sit with me and have coffee and we can share adjacent space and maybe, I mean, if you are actually _interested_ …”_

_Ugh_ Carlos’s order arrived and he stared at it, lost in thought, his smile gone as he considered Cecil’s possible small-town reactions to his attempts to steer a personal conversation around maybe to a date. He took a dry bite of his wheat-free sandwich and looked up. 

Carlos stopped chewing and swallowed so quickly it hurt, he could feel the bolus of fake bread and salad force its way down his oesophagus. He sat up and rubbed his sternum, knowing it would do nothing for the discomfort. Carlos felt his neck and cheeks warm from the effort of not coughing, or perhaps it was from the sight of the man sitting with his back to the scientist, calmly tapping at a keyboard. Carlos took a deep breath as soon as he was able, adjusted his glasses and squinted at the screen partially obscured by Cecil’s arm. He could not make out much of what Cecil was writing until the barista called out _Dark and endless? Who wanted a dark and endless?_ at which point the radio host raised his hand and got up to claim his coffee. 

Carlos strained forward to read the screen.

_Chief Brody stared at the lovely scientist who stood on the deck with his back to him, dark curls cascading to bare, muscular shoulders. The scientist half turned. Brody held his breath at the sight of that beautiful profile, the strong jaw silhouetted in the warm evening sunlight, backlit by the glittering surface of a calm sea, then let out a quiet hiss._  
_The man smiled and spoke. “Are you going down with me or not?”_  
_Brody looked away and snapped a reply. “Hooper, you know how I feel about this. I’m not about to jump in for the sake of a quick thrill.”_  
_Hooper dropped his smirk and walked the couple of steps over to Brody. “What’s the matter?”_  
_Brody stood his ground, aware of just how close Hooper was, fighting the urge to reach out and weave his fingers through that glorious mane, kiss those soft lips and turn the scientist’s taunts into moans of pleasure. Brody imagined for just a second how it would feel to have Hooper call out his name at his moment of climax. An image flashed into the chief's mind, of Hooper gripping on to the railing around the little boat, arching back, begging for Brody to-- Brody blinked the image away._  
_Hooper lowered his voice. “I can see you are apprehensive. It’s okay to be afraid of the shark. It is an apex predator, sublimely adapted to survival, and its survival depends on killing. But it is a creature of grace and beauty too and I want to share that with you. Come in the cage with me tomorrow, let me show you something that will take your breath away.”_  
_Brody struggled to swallow. He nodded, looking everywhere but at the gorgeous scientist in front of him. “I’ll go down, I’ll come with you if you promise…”_  
_Hooper inched closer to Brody and put a hand on his arm. “I promise I will make it worth your while.”_

Carlos sat back as the screensaver cut in, obscuring his appreciation of Cecil’s literary efforts. He busied himself dissecting his lunch until Cecil returned to his seat with his improbably large coffee mug.

"Oh! Umm, hello, I didn't see you there in the corner." Cecil smiled and waved. He sat down but angled his chair round so he could turn to face Carlos without actually joining his table.  
"Uh... Hi Cecil. I didn't see you come in. Umm, would you like to..." Carlos felt heat rise again and waved at the chair opposite him. "Unless you're busy with your... umm... work."  
Cecil flashed a smile that made Carlos's head spin. Soon, the laptop sat closed on the table beside them and Cecil's hand rested on top of it.

Carlos struggled with the remains of his lunch. Cecil sipped his coffee and closed his eyes.  
"Mmm. They know I like my coffee hand-ground here. I come here a lot. I have not seen you in here before."  
Carlos nodded then shook his head then frowned. "I have been here before, a number of times that I have not thought of counting."  
Cecil laughed. "Oh! I see." Carlos's eyebrows shot up and he felt his hands tremble so much he dared not try to pick up his sandwich. "Yes it makes sense that you would take a break somewhere your science team would not find you. Good plan!" Cecil reached over and briefly gripped Carlos's forearm. "I mean, you probably don't want to talk about science, like, _all_ the time? Right?"

Cecil sat back, wrapping both hands around his coffee mug and lifting it to his lips. Carlos took a deep breath and spoke, words rushed but quiet. "What were you writing about? It looked interesting."  
Cecil choked and coughed, held a paper napkin over his mouth. Carlos watched as Cecil's eyes started to water. The scientist got up to fetch more paper napkins for the reddening radio presenter.

Cecil recovered after a couple of minutes. "You read my screen?"  
"I didn't mean to," Carlos protested, sensing that he had overstepped a boundary. "I saw the first couple of sentences and I wanted to know what happened next. I couldn't help reading on until your screensaver activated. I'm sorry, I should not have read it." Carlos looked away. "I liked it."  
Cecil sat back and frowned. "You liked it?"  
"Mmhmm." Carlos nodded. "I want to know how your story finishes. Will you let me read it? When it is done?"  
Cecil leaned forwards, angled his chin down to his chest and peered at Carlos. "You... _want_ to read my slashfic?"  
Carlos took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I want to know what happens next between Brody and Hooper. I want to know if they have any chance of starting something deep, something that could be great or if it's all just shallow and superficial." Carlos caught Cecil's gaze. "I want to know if Brody needs Hooper to be more direct or if they are both just caught up in a moment." Carlos returned his attention to his massacred sandwich. "I want to find out if... if Hooper asks Brody on a date, what will Brody say to... to everyone who might listen to him?"

Cecil sat back, eyebrows high on his forehead, hands gripping the sides of his chair.  
"Oh! I see. Hmm, in that case I could finish the story later and I guess it would be okay for you to read it. I usually ask my intern to edit my slashfic but I suppose I could make an exception if you would be kind and forgive the occasional grammatical faux-pas or homophone substitution."  
Carlos smiled. "I'd like that. You have my email?"  
Cecil nodded. "I'll send it to you. You could read it then call me and suggest how to improve it if you like."  
Carlos looked at his watch then stood. "I have to get back to the lab. There's something happening at the Desert Flower later that I want to go check out. I have to go make some measurements, write down some Greek letters, stand back and look at it all saying _hmm_. You know, science."  
Cecil smiled. "Sure. I'll have a story for you real quick. Will I see you again soon?"  
Carlos shrugged. "As far as I can predict the future, which is not at all because there are so many variables and past, present and future are concepts internal to our perception rather than being absolutes, I would say there is a reasonable expectation that we will have another completely coincidental meeting in the next few days."

Carlos said goodbye and fled. Cecil smiled, opened his laptop and began to type.

_Hooper stepped back and smiled at Brody. “If you want, we can discuss shark behavior and misrepresentation in media over dinner tomorrow night instead.”_  
_Hooper waited for a reply, nervous of what Brody would say. Brody’s heart beat faster. “As friends or as a… a date?”_  
_”A date.” Hooper smiled. “If you want it to be.”_  
_Brody smiled. “That would be neat!”_


End file.
